LIGO confirms black hole theories by Hawking, Kerr
Big news from space: LIGO has confirmed two major black hole ideas from Stephen Hawking and Roy Kerr, thanks to a super-clear gravitational wave signal called GW250114.
This is the sharpest signal ever caught from a black hole merger, and the announcement dropped today, Wednesday, September 10, 2025.
The role of upgraded LIGO tech in this discovery
Basically, this discovery proves that when black holes merge, they create an even bigger black hole—just like Hawking predicted back in 1971.
It also backs up Kerr's theory from 1963 that mass and spin are key to understanding these cosmic giants.
With LIGO's upgraded tech (now four times more sensitive than in 2015), scientists say they're now almost absolutely sure—confidence jumped to a wild 99.999%.
As Steve Fairhurst from LIGO explained, we are just at the beginning of discovering what gravitational waves can teach us about the universe.